photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

Garnel Andreus Moore Williams

Updated at 3:32 p.m. Monday, Nov. 24

Several people were held at gunpoint over the weekend and some were strip-searched after a man claimed money had been stolen from him at an apartment on Michigan Street, according to Lawrence police.

LPD’s Crisis Response Team was activated early Sunday morning to execute a search warrant after the people had been held for nearly three hours.

On Monday, the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office charged the suspect, Garnel Andreus Moore Williams, 31, with three felonies, including aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated assault. The charges allege that a firearm was used in the incident.

Patrol officers said they found an injured man at about 3 a.m. Sunday. The man, who said he had been hit with a firearm, had dried blood on him and a significant gash on the side of his head, police said.

The incident started about midnight in an apartment at 3250 Michigan St. Police said it appeared that the injured man was at a friend’s house with about eight other people when one of the men said someone had stolen money from him. The man got angry, pulled a firearm and told people to not leave until he found the money. After about three hours, which included strip-searching some individuals, the man told everyone to leave the apartment, police said.

Officers set up a perimeter, waited for the man — identified later as Moore Williams — to leave, and safely took him into custody just after sunrise. The Crisis Response Team later entered the apartment to perform the search. Officers located the weapon they believe Moore Williams used.

The injured man was taken to the hospital for treatment.

The Douglas County Jail booking log indicated that Moore Williams had also been arrested on suspicion of a parole violation.

According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, Moore Williams has served prison time and has been convicted of numerous felonies, including drug possession in 2017 in Douglas County, burglary in 2014 in Douglas County, and aggravated assault, robbery and criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling/vehicle in 2018 in Shawnee County.